﻿﻿﻿Although this web site is now open, it is still in the process of being created. I have a lot more to add to it such as ‘Work in Progress’, so I hope you will come back from time to time to see how I am getting on. I hope too that you’ll send me a message to tell me what you think, whether of the books, the poems. the essays or the plays.

A word now about the image in the banner above. Saturn has always interested me since I first saw images of it in Arthur Mees’ Children’s Encyclopedia. This volume was, of course, well out of date even by the standards of the 1950s – but what it may have lacked in scientific acumen, it more than made up for in its enthusiasm and optimistic belief in education – and it is those qualities that have stayed with me over the years.

In contrast, the picture used in the banner is very up to date. It was taken by the Cassini Imaging Team and can be viewed in full at the Astronomy Picture for the Day website for January 11th in 2009. Apart from its uniqueness – the eclipse of the sun by Saturn, something that could never have been seen before – the picture is important because of the little spec which you can see just beyond the bright ring and at about 10.0’clock.

See it? Well that is us. All of us. Every man, woman and child alive today as well as the bones of our ancestors. Every Buddhist, Muslem or Christian as well as every other religion or nationality. Every fish, spider, crocus and pohutakawa tree. All of us on every plane of existence.

As a writer, I think it is the most perfect image of everything I am trying to do in my books and stories: to give pleasure, surprise and perspective, certainly. But beyond all flights of fancy, it is that little dot that is the focus of all my efforts. Sometimes Science fiction is seen as escapist or unrealistic literature – and so it may be, sometimes – but to me, Science Fiction allows me to approach our world with all its complications, troubles and delights, in a way that allows realism and raw imagination to work hand in hand. Not that there is really a choice: all us scribblers cope as well as we can given the proclivities and limits we are born with. I am sure Jane Austen would agree with that.

Although all my books are out of print, copies can still be obtained from bookellers such as Amazon.co.uk, The Book Depository and Abe Books.
Finally, I want to express my gratitude to Malcolm Burgess who has guided my every step on the way to creating this website. His patience has been extraordinary, combined with his enormous good humour.

I would also like to thank those friends who have looked at the webpage and given me their advice and suggestions.

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3 Responses

Delighted to come across with you and your work just today in German.
Quickly: read of your work in some notes I wrote, after hearing a reading by ABC radio ( my employers from 1963 – 1980) on 17 November 1993 ( I was media manager of The Australian War Memorial) and just out of a psychiatric ward in Canberra. How I coped with keeping my notes about ” material that came in the nature of revelation “, I don’t know. But I bought Eye of the Queen this very day. Will make amends: not a fan of SF but should see how you tackled it before the awful stuff online today, written by very poor writers making heaps via Amazon. And long after the other “masters’.
Mr Mann sir, I am thrilled and would enjoy a chat if possible. You are in France I see, and hard to catch! NeilMcPherson@live.com Toengesstrasse 8D
55129 Mainz-Ebersheim Germany.
Wish to pursue the quote in a NonFiction book project in process here.@
Hope you are well and happy, Neil McPherson born in Wellington NSW Australia in 1938 and a solid fan of your hometown in New Zealand and the snow down south. Best

Dear Phil,
This is a message from an acquaintance of long ago, who has finally found out something about what happened to you after Way Back When, which was in this case 1976. Do you remember a young acting student at HSU in Arcata who played “Lucky” under your direction? That’s me: Len Shirts.
I’ve since gone on to concentrate on mask and movement theatre. I and my Wife run an independant theatre company in Freiburg, Southern Germany (I wound up here more or less unintentionally in 1985. I thought I’d stay 4 or 5 years….). Our company is named Theater R.A.B. or Random Acts of Beauty. Please have a look. I haven’t managed to translate everything but we have lots of pictures (being mask creators and performers).
You production of “Waiting for Godot” was one of my most memorable experiences in my education, and was certainly pivotable in making me recognized as an actor wirh potential within the politics of the theatre department. I have very fond memories of your passionate face driving us on and the way you brought out the deep emotion in a play that so many considered dry and absurd.
I am now very intrigued to read of yor career as an author, and will do my best to obtain one of your works.
Thanks for reading this very long email! I wish you the very best and would be pleased as punch over a reply.
Sincerely,
Len